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      “It happens to clinicians too”: an Australian prevalence study of intimate partner and family violence against health professionals

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          Abstract

          Background

          The purpose of this study was to measure the prevalence of intimate partner and family violence amongst a population of Australian female nurses, doctors and allied health professionals.

          Methods

          We conducted a descriptive, cross-sectional survey in a large Australian tertiary maternity hospital with 471 participating female health professionals (45.0% response rate). The primary outcome measures were 12 month and lifetime prevalence of intimate partner violence (Composite Abuse Scale) and family violence.

          Results

          In the last 12 months, one in ten (43, 11.5%) participants reported intimate partner violence: 4.2% (16) combined physical, emotional and/or sexual abuse; 6.7% (25) emotional abuse and/or harassment; 5.1% (22) were afraid of their partner; and 1.7% (7) had been raped by their partner. Since the age of sixteen, one third (125, 29.7%) of participants reported intimate partner violence: 18.3% (77) had experienced combined physical, emotional and/or sexual abuse; 8.1% (34) emotional abuse and/or harassment; 25.6% (111) had been afraid of their partner; and 12.1% (51) had been raped by their partner. Overall, 45.2% (212) of participants reported violence by a partner and/or family member during their lifetime, with 12.8% (60) reporting both.

          Conclusion

          Intimate partner and family violence may be common traumas in the lives of female health professionals, and this should be considered in health workplace policies and protocols, as health professionals are increasingly urged to work with patients who have experienced intimate partner and family violence. Implications include the need for workplace manager training, special leave provision, counselling services and other resources for staff.

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          Most cited references27

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          Health consequences of intimate partner violence.

          Intimate partner violence, which describes physical or sexual assault, or both, of a spouse or sexual intimate, is a common health-care issue. In this article, I have reviewed research on the mental and physical health sequelae of such violence. Increased health problems such as injury, chronic pain, gastrointestinal, and gynaecological signs including sexually-transmitted diseases, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder are well documented by controlled research in abused women in various settings. Intimate partner violence has been noted in 3-13% of pregnancies in many studies from around the world, and is associated with detrimental outcomes to mothers and infants. I recommend increased assessment and interventions for intimate partner violence in health-care settings.
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            Increasing response rates to postal questionnaires: systematic review.

            To identify methods to increase response to postal questionnaires. Systematic review of randomised controlled trials of any method to influence response to postal questionnaires. 292 randomised controlled trials including 258 315 participants INTERVENTION REVIEWED: 75 strategies for influencing response to postal questionnaires. The proportion of completed or partially completed questionnaires returned. The odds of response were more than doubled when a monetary incentive was used (odds ratio 2.02; 95% confidence interval 1.79 to 2.27) and almost doubled when incentives were not conditional on response (1.71; 1.29 to 2.26). Response was more likely when short questionnaires were used (1.86; 1.55 to 2.24). Personalised questionnaires and letters increased response (1.16; 1.06 to 1.28), as did the use of coloured ink (1.39; 1.16 to 1.67). The odds of response were more than doubled when the questionnaires were sent by recorded delivery (2.21; 1.51 to 3.25) and increased when stamped return envelopes were used (1.26; 1.13 to 1.41) and questionnaires were sent by first class post (1.12; 1.02 to 1.23). Contacting participants before sending questionnaires increased response (1.54; 1.24 to 1.92), as did follow up contact (1.44; 1.22 to 1.70) and providing non-respondents with a second copy of the questionnaire (1.41; 1.02 to 1.94). Questionnaires designed to be of more interest to participants were more likely to be returned (2.44; 1.99 to 3.01), but questionnaires containing questions of a sensitive nature were less likely to be returned (0.92; 0.87 to 0.98). Questionnaires originating from universities were more likely to be returned than were questionnaires from other sources, such as commercial organisations (1.31; 1.11 to 1.54). Health researchers using postal questionnaires can improve the quality of their research by using the strategies shown to be effective in this systematic review.
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              Researching domestic violence against women: methodological and ethical considerations.

              The results of three population-based studies on violence against women in Nicaragua are compared in this article. Two of the studies were regional in scope (León and Managua) and focused specifically on women's experiences of violence, whereas the third study was a Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) conducted with a nationally representative sample of women. The lifetime prevalence estimates for women's undergoing physical violence from a partner were significantly higher in the León study (52 percent) and Managua study (69 percent), compared with that given in the DHS (28 percent). Possible explanations for the differences are examined through pooled multivariate logistic regression analysis, as well as analysis of six focus-group discussions carried out with field-workers and staff from the three studies. The most important differences that were found concerned ethical and safety procedures and the interview setting. The results indicate that prevalence estimates for violence are highly sensitive to methodological factors, and that underreporting is a significant threat to validity.
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                Author and article information

                Contributors
                elizabeth.mclindon@unimelb.edu.au
                cathy.humphreys@edu.au
                k.hegarty@unimelb.edu.au
                Journal
                BMC Womens Health
                BMC Womens Health
                BMC Women's Health
                BioMed Central (London )
                1472-6874
                26 June 2018
                26 June 2018
                2018
                : 18
                : 113
                Affiliations
                [1 ]ISNI 0000 0001 2179 088X, GRID grid.1008.9, The Department of General Practice, , The University of Melbourne, ; Melbourne, VIC Australia
                [2 ]ISNI 0000 0001 2179 088X, GRID grid.1008.9, Department of Social Work, , The University of Melbourne, ; Melbourne, VIC Australia
                [3 ]ISNI 0000 0004 0386 2271, GRID grid.416259.d, Royal Women’s Hospital, ; Victoria, Australia
                Author information
                http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5426-152X
                Article
                588
                10.1186/s12905-018-0588-y
                6020247
                29940948
                23be1e08-a429-4c6a-8aa6-491d6964b54d
                © The Author(s). 2018

                Open AccessThis article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver ( http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.

                History
                : 8 August 2016
                : 6 June 2018
                Categories
                Research Article
                Custom metadata
                © The Author(s) 2018

                Obstetrics & Gynecology
                intimate partner violence,family violence,violence against women,sexual assault,health professionals,prevalence

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